PASSAGES: Jennifer Connelly's Baby Boy

BORN: Oscar winner Jennifer Connelly, 32, and her husband, "A Beautiful Mind" costar Paul Bettany, also 32, welcomed a baby boy Wednesday, the Associate Press reports. No other details were released about the child. The actress, who already has a 5-year-old son, Kai, from a previous relationship, won the 2002 Oscar for Best Supporting Actress for her portrayal of the wife of schizophrenic math genius John Nash (played by Aussie actor Russell Crowe) in "A Beautiful Mind." Although she met Bettany, who played Nash's mysterious college roommate, on the set, the couple didn't begin dating until almost a year after the film wrapped. They were married in Scotland in December.

UPGRADED: The Peacock network is preening at the success of "Queer Eye for the Straight Guy." NBC has announced that it will air a full hour of the reality series on Aug. 14 instead of the pared-down 30-minute episode it had planned, reports Reuters. In a summer filled with reality shows, "Queer Eye," a series in which five gay men make over the life of a style-deficient straight man, has broken ratings records for the NBC-owned cable channel Bravo.

QUOTED: "Luckily, my career is not based on my body. I play the quirky sidekicks, the offbeat characters. I'm not the boobs in a movie." -- "American Wedding" star Alyson Hannigan, 29, to CNN

AILING: Legendary musician Ray Charles, 72, canceled the remainder of his North American tour Wednesday because of a sore hip, reports Reuters. It's the first time he's missed a tour in 50 continuous years of live performing. "It breaks my heart to withdraw from these shows," he said in a statement. "All my life, I've been touring and performing. It's what I do. But the doctors insist I stay put and mend for a while, so I'll heed their advice." Spokespeople for the 12-time Grammy winner said Charles's doctors have not yet diagnosed the reason for his hip pain.

NIXED: Talk-show host Jerry Springer, 59, has announced that he will not run for U.S. Senate next year. Springer, who was the mayor of Cincinnati from 1978-1981, had been thinking of leaving his successful talk show to pursue the Ohio Senate seat held by Republican George Voinovich. "As long as I'm doing that show, my message, no matter how sincere and no matter how heartfelt, does not get through to the people I need to reach," he said at a news conference, reports the Associated Press. "That separation obviously hasn't taken place and would not take place in time for this election." Springer, a Democrat, spent almost $1 million of his own money testing the political waters, AP reported.